Burden of Sorrow

Hello friends,

The genesis of this idea took hold while visiting the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. This was my second visit to the museum, but the first time that I had taken advantage of the full tour. My tour began by being personally shown some of the museum artifacts by a Holocaust Survivor, his narrative intertwined with the descriptions of the museum pieces. His Story Their Story; had a profound impact on me.

The thought to attempt this theme kept bouncing around my head, but I just could not quite visualize what the scene might be. But then, coincidentally, at about this same time Libor and LZ Models released the excellent German G-10 Railcar. I was set. This is an amazing kit - highly detailed. Absolutely stunning.

A few photos of the rail car construction. As you can see the underside of the car is a myriad of detail....

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I decided to cover the roof with Bare Metal Foil to simulate the tar paper texture...
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Painting and weathering.......
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In order to convey this story I would need to pull out all of the stops when it came to the focal point the prisoner figure. I built the small hand cart, but there was no doubt in my mind that I would need a custom figure, one specifically sculpted for this scene. For the figure I turned to a talented sculptor friend who was able to provide me with the ideal figure. However, the story of the figure doesn't top there. As this project began to unfold I posted my work on some of the modeling forums. My good friend and excellent modeler Markus Lack saw these posts and sent me an email asking me about the project. The project was still in the early stages, but Markus had guessed the theme and sent me an email expressing his thoughts and asked if he could become involved. Markus (who is German) explained that in Germany it is still difficult to talk openly about such events that took place during World War II. Certainly the Holocaust is difficult subject to discuss, let alone represent in scale in any country, but particularly in Germany. It was an easy decision on my part to ask Markus to paint the lone figure.

Some of Markus's figure work. Not only did he paint, but Markus spent a great deal of time refining and detailing the original piece.

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The idea for the piece is that this poor soul is charged with clearing the clothing and luggage left behind by those arriving at the camp. The cart was built using plastic strip, the clothing is made from 2 part putty. Here is a working shot from earlier in construction.

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The base is constructed from a plastic form with plaster for texture. The electrified fence posts were created from plastic and then cast. The insulators were made from small glass beads, while the fencing is made from plastic mesh cut close to create small barbs.

Final pictures:



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Thank you for looking.

Rick